Feathers and Dust
by Irken Invader
Summary: My first fanfic, a Golden Compass and Tsubasa crossover. not gonna put any pairings in it. Dunno wat to put for rating...set around part two of Golden Compass and no where in particular for Tsubasa
1. Chapter 1

If I owned either of these series, (Tsubasa Reservoir Chronicles and His Dark materials) I would die of happiness. Since I am not dead, I guess that means I don't own them…This is my first fanfic **ever**, so…yeah…let the prologue thingy commence!!

Laughing and screaming, the two children were playing a sort of hide and seek among the many and large roofs of Jordan College, as they had many times before. But at one point the games ceased, because something had caught the eye of one of the children, and soon the other had come to see what the first had found that made him abandon their game as he did. He had found something there that interested them both much more than their running around. Oh, they had found interesting treasures up there before, but this one was particularly good. It wasn't just how pretty the object was to the eye, there was something more. The air around it seemed to shimmer with a strange power. Just the feel of that moment of discovery, that this was something out of the ordinary. "What do you suppose it is?" the boy whispered, awed. "It's a feather, dummy." The magical moment ended.

The boy scowled. "I knew that! What I meant was…I don't know what I meant." "It **is** the weirdest feather I've ever seen. Certainly didn't come from any bird around here." said the girl, frowning in confusion down at the feather. She picked it up, and then "Here" she said, thrusting it out to the boy, just as a pigeon flapped down to land on his shoulder. "What do you mean?" A raccoon wound its way around the girl's legs. She replied, "Stick it on her" gesturing to the bird. The boy took the feather from the girl's outstretched fingers and gingerly tucked it among the feathers on the creature's tail. Both children smiled and laughed at the comical sight as the pigeon wiggled its tail, showing off its new plumage. "She's the prettiest pigeon in all of Oxford!" the girl laughed, before dashing away, the find already forgotten in the face of a game of tag. "Catch me if you can!" "Wait for me!" As the boy ran off after his friend, the pigeon took to the air, wheeling in a circle once before dropping to the ground as a cat and chasing after her boy.

The feather disappeared as surely as her beak and wings. But for some strange reason after that, whenever Roger's daemon took the form of a bird, the feather was there, as snug and tight and attached in place as any of the other feathers.

Tada!! It's short, i know, but review please anyway!! I'll add something more later...


	2. Chapter 2

Tada

Tada!! Next thingy now…do I have to repeat every chapter that I don't own these, or what? I don't know. Wheeeeeeeeeeee!! O.k., the little prologue thingy I'm gonna say took place before the book, and now this is somewhere around part two of Golden Compass. Soooooo…..yeah. Hope it's not too short.

The shy was a rather disturbing shade of grey, with big, dark masses of rain-heavy clouds strung all around. It was a sky that indicated bad weather, so people kept their heads down, tending to stay inside, and if they had to venture out, hurrying wherever they needed to go under umbrellas with their eyes on the ground. Some people may enjoy watching storms from inside the comfort of their homes, but this was not a storm worth the watching. Merely an ugly drizzle. However, if someone had had their face turned to the sky, despite the annoying drops landing all around and always seeming to find their way into your eyes, and had been able to watch a very particular stretch of sky, they would have seen something so very strange as to make all the watching worthwhile. Because, if you stared hard enough and long, you would notice that this small patch of sky was melting.

The insubstantial air grew hard and solid, then liquid and fluid. It didn't drip down in many small drops like the rain falling around it, but more in a long stream, like syrup. At first slowly, then faster and faster, until the stream became a river, twisting and surging and crashing down towards the earth. It paused in its course a few feet above the ground, roughly dropping 4 people the distance, then continuing down on its journey to the ground. A few tendrils exploded from the main stream, swirling around those it had delivered, but those too soon took leave. Once again, it didn't soak through the earth into underground rivers like normal rainwater, but rather simply passed through as if the hard earth wasn't even there. The sky appeared unchanged from having lost a piece of it's self.

However, I suppose any watcher would be more interested in the people who had just arrived by so odd a means of transport. So I shall introduce them to you. The black-clad ninja Kurogane, someone who is always better to have on your side rather than against you. The unnaturally happy, and always secretive, Magician Fai. The serious and focused on his goal, Syaoran the archeologist and historian. Lastly, the drowsy princess for whose sake, everyone was now here. Also, something that might be a talkative, mutated rabbit. Oh, I'm sorry. Mokona is Mokona. Unfortunately, of fortunately, no one was watching as this all happened. So no one heard Kurogane growl, "So where the hell are we now!"

"Well, somewhere cold. And rainy." And that was true. It was very cold, and the rain, although not coming down very hard, was still coming down steadily with no signs of it stopping anytime soon. And they were in the middle of nowhere. "Well," said Syaoran, standing up and wiping off the mud, "first things first. We need to find out if there is a feather in this world. Mokona?" He asked, turning towards the rabbit-thing being held in Sakura's arms. "Mokona senses a strange power coming from all around in this world. If a feather is here, the other power is masking it." "That's not very helpful." Kurogane growled. "Are you good for anything?" "Mokona is good for lots of stuff! Mokona has 108 secret tecniques. The strange power is coming from the people here. Since its strongest in that direction, that means the nearest town is that way." Kurogane looked surprised, while Fai looked cheerful, as usual. "Brilliant job, Mokona. Well, everyone? Let's get a move on. The sooner we prove whether or not that there is no feather in this world, the sooner we can move on to the next, and it looks like Sakura needs a bed to sleep in." The princess was nodding off again. And so the group set out trudging through muddy fields to the direction where Mokona pointed out the nearest town to be. It took awhile to get there.


	3. Chapter 3

Tada

Tada!! Next chapter now…again. Do I have to repeat every chapter that I don't own these, or what? I don't know. I know every chapter is very short, but I have no free time recently because of school starting and homework. But then again, it's not like anyone is actually reading this…if you are, thanks!

After trudging for hours through muddy fields for hours on end, Syaoran carrying a sleeping Sakura piggy-back, the village finally came into view on the horizon. After slightly adjusting their course, the group grimly set off again. "Jeez, you stupid meat bun. Usually you drop us off a little closer to civilization. What gives?" grumbled Kurogane. "Well, at least we can finally see our destination." Syaoran answered. They set off with a fast pace, and before they knew it they had finally made it to the edge of town. Sakura, awake now, climbed off Syaoran's back and curiously looked around. Fai smiled. "Well, what do you know, that didn't take nearly so long, now did it." He cheerfully announced. "Yeah, only 5 straight hours. Dusk is already falling. sigh Well, I suppose the first thing we should do would be to find a place to stay for the night. Then, we can look for a bar for some grub and use some of that magic of yours, Princess, to earn us some of the money of this world." Kurogane stretched, getting the stiffness out of his legs after the long trek. He began to look around, and then continued on to say, "Well, it's not a city, but this place is certainly big for the middle of nowhere. We had better split up." Syaoran nodded. "Agreed. Come with me, Princess." Sakura watched as Syaoran started to head off into thee town. "Umm…Wait! Syaoran. I was kinda hoping I could explore by myself." "What?!" "Well, you see, I've gotten enough feathers back that I'm not going to fall asleep on the spot anymore, and I napped on the way here too, so…well. I want to prove to you that I don't have to be constantly worried about. I can take care of myself, and be of help to everyone, not just a burden." Syaoran still looked unsure, but Fai replied gently, "Let her go, Syaoran. She'll be fine. Besides, she'll have Mokona with her." He still looked unsure, but Syaoran eventually nodded and set off. Sakura hugged Mokona closer to her, then set of after Syaoran, but turned when she came to the first corner. "Well, that just leaves you and me!" Fai said, smiling slyly at the ninja beside him. 'Don't get any ideas, you whack job. I'm going on my own." And with that he stomped off angrily into town. "Well, guess I'll just go this way." Fai headed off in the only direction not taken.

As Syaoran walked, he noticed that the people he passed had animals walking at their sides, or riding on their shoulders. Smiling to himself, he thought 'It's wonderful that people here care so much for their pets. Although it's strange that none of them wear leases.' Mentally shrugging, the thought passed from his mind as he continued on his search for a hotel. But as he continued on, he noticed that not a single person was without an animal. And the animals themselves were of an increasingly strange variety. Many people had dogs, but there were cats, birds of all kinds, lizards, two or three horses, butterflies, moths, and one man even had a locust buzzing around his head. 'That's odd.' He thought to himself. However, the road he had taken was pretty empty, and all the sightings of these people were far and few between. But whenever someone did pass, the atmosphere always grew uncomfortable, so Syaoran eventually made his way back to where they had entered the town empty handed to wait for the others.

Sakura held Mokona tight in her arms. Despite what she had told Syaoran and the others, now she was starting to wish she had gone with someone. The people here all seemed friendly enough, but it was an unfamiliar town nonetheless. Mokona was currently pretending to be a stuffed animal, since Sakura didn't know whether or not the people here had magic or talking animals. But they did have animals, which relaxed her mind slightly. As she stood in the town square, unsure of where she should look, a friendly and worried looking mother type carrying a sack of groceries crossed over to her. "Hello, dear. Are you o.k.? You want to hurry home before the light disappears." Here the woman looked behind her and the pink sky, then lowered her voice. "The Gobblers have been sighted in town, and so when I saw you standing here all alone, I was immediately concerned for you." "Gobblers?" "Oh yes, dear. But I didn't intend to frighten you. My name is Mabel." Mabel frowned. "You must be a traveler or you would have known about the Gobblers being about. And I haven't ever seen you around here before." Sakura breathed a sigh of relief and smiled, but seemed to be on the verge of tears. "Yes, I came here with my friends, but we split up when we arrived to look for a place to spend the night. But I got lost, and realized we never specified a place to meet, and now I don't know how to find them again." "You poor thing!" Mabel cried. "Come stay with me for the night. I'm sure your friends will find someplace to stay themselves, and you can meet up in the morning. It's getting too late to do much searching now. You can stay in my daughter's room. She won't be needing it now." Sakura looked confused. "She…she was…was taken. But no need to repeat something horrible as that. Come." Sakura followed Mabel to her home, which wasn't too far away. Mabel seemed like a genuinely nice person, but Sakura couldn't help but get the feeling that as much as Mabel wanted to like her, she was uncomfortable around her. The squirrel on Mabel's shoulder was certainly jumpy around her, and every once in a while seemed to be whispering something in Mabel's ear. As they walked away down the street, you could hear Mabel cheerfully say, "And what an interesting daemon you have! I have never seen a rabbit quite like yours before. Is he settled on that shape? May I ask his name?" "Mokona is Mokona!"

Kurogane stalked down the road in a foul mood, so it was a good thing no one was about. The sun had gone down fast, and the sky was already dark. The ninja could make out a crowd of people on their ways home under the brightly light street lamps on the road ahead of them. He could ask one of them for directions to a hotel, so he briskly set off in that direction. Then he stopped as he noticed something. Every single man, woman, and child was accompanied by an animal at their side. And they definitely weren't pets. Kurogane's eyes narrowed. 'Crap. Kudan. We're back in the Hanshin Republic. No, the climate is too drastically different. But we must be in the same world. No feather in this world, we've already recovered it. Waste of my time.' He took one more step forward, before stopping one more time. 'What is odd is that everyone has their Kudan out. Usually, they're inside their owner unless they're needed to fight…' Kurogane may have been a warrior, but he was is no mood to walk into a battle. But no one in the square was fighting as far as he could see. They were just going about their everyday lives. 'No matter. We're leaving in the morning anyway,' and with that Kurogane stepped out of the shadows and into the light. Everyone in the square froze and turned to stare at the frightening man in black who had stepped out of the shadows. The air churned with fear. The Kudan, 'Are they kudan?' turned and growled, roared, hissed, and crowed until all noise was blanked out in the cacophony of the animals and people reacting in terror and anger. But Kurogane could make out a few select words. "Hideous" "Ghost" "Monster" Kurogane was a little startled at this reaction. Yes, he was a scary looking person, and many people distrusted him at first glance, but never had he created a reaction on this scale before. Then he heard the whispers "-mon" "-has no daemon" "where is his" "He doesn't have" "no daemon" "monster without a daemon"and then it hit him. The animals weren't Kudan, there must be these daemons. And whatever they were, they must be important enough that without one, they thought he was a monster. A gunshot rang out. Kurogane ran back into the shadows. He could have taken them all easily, but he had to find the others first.

Fai strolled down the street whistling a merry tune. Doors slammed in his face but he ignored them. "Excuse me, but could you point me in the direction of the nearest inn?" he would call out to any person he came across on the street, but he was always given a frightened stare, and the person in question would run, hiding around a corner, or dashing into the nearest building and locking the door. Fai finally stopped in the middle of the deserted street, shoved his hands into his pockets, and rocked back and forth on the heels of his feet, and thought while his song slowly wound down into nothing. "You." Fai was seemingly startled out of his thoughts at a voice. Looking around he finally spotted a homeless man leaning against a wall. "I assume you're talking to me." "Who else is around? You scared them all off." Fai smiled sadly. "I suppose I did. Could you tell me why?" There was a long pause, before a reply came, an unrelated one, but one which thoroughly came as a shock to Fai. "You stink of magic." Fai immediately crossed over to the man, and as he came closer, noticed a slight madness in the man's eyes. But he still knew enough that Fai needed to get information out of him. Crouching down, his eyes turning hard, Fai softly asked "How did you know?" Again there was the pause. "I was in love with a witch once." Fai raised an eyebrow. 'So there is magic in this world.' He thought. The man took a deep breathe, and then continued. "She loved me back. Or at least I thought she did. Not enough apparently. She left me. Without a word." Here the man let out an unhappy laugh. "But I knew her long enough to learn to recognize that scent that those who have those powers give off. The scent of magic surrounding you is quite stale, but it is still your own power I smell." Fai thanked the man and got up to leave…lost in his thoughts. "Wait." The man was calling him back. "Didn't you want your question answered? They're scared because since they see no daemon about you, they believe you don't have one. I have never met a male witch before, but then again…maybe this is just a dream. Give my regards to Amelia Serphera." Fai nodded, pretending to understand what the man meant, then walked away.

Da end o' this chapter. So all these people in the town…like Mabel, and the crazy dude and his witch…I made them up. So they don't actually exist. And you will never hear of them ever again. They only served the purpose of…whatever they did in this chapter. So, anyway, if anyone is actually out there reading this, please leave a review. It's like, if I don't think anyone is reading this, I'm probally not gonna do anything more. Thanks bye.


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